A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Kepler discovers more super-Earths and other space and astronomy news

This week's featured story comes from Discovery News on YouTube and Space.com.

NASA's Kepler telescope was launched to find other planets just like earth-- and now, scientists think they may have found not just one, but three! Trace shows us where they are in the solar system and why the discovery is so important.

With more and more Earth-like alien planets being discovered around the galaxy, humanity should now start planning out the next steps in its hunt for far-flung alien life, researchers say.

On Thursday (April 18), scientists announced the discovery of three more potentially habitable exoplanets — Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f and Kepler-69c — further suggesting that the cosmos is jam-packed with worlds capable of supporting life as we know it.

So the time is right to get the ball rolling beyond mere discovery to the detailed study and characterization of promising alien planets, researchers said — a task that will require new and more powerful instruments.

Administrator Charles Bolden, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson and Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot unveiled the President's Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for NASA during a town hall-style all-hands briefing at Headquarters. The proposal would leverage the agency's capabilities to make significant-yet-affordable advances for the nation while meeting the space goals set by the Obama Administration. One presidential goal, to send humans to an asteroid by 2025, is targeted by what would be the first-ever mission to identify, capture, and relocate an asteroid to a stable Earth-moon orbit. There, it could be explored by astronauts using the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System. Also, ANTARES AWAITS, CURIOSITY ROVER UPDATE, XOMBIE FLIES HIGH, FROZEN WINGS, EARTH MONTH TREE PLANTING, @NASA GETS SHORTY and more!

President Obama's Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for NASA is a $17.7 billion investment in our nation's future. NASA's budget ensures the United States will remain the world's leader in space exploration and scientific discovery for years to come, while making critical advances in aerospace and aeronautics to benefit the American people.

Scientists have collected the startling chemical fingerprints of four huge alien planets, successfully sifting through the blinding light of their parent star.

The atmospheric composition of the four warm, cloud-covered alien planets orbiting the star HR 8799 — a star five times brighter than our sun that lies 128 light-years away from Earth — took researchers by surprise.

"These warm, red planets are unlike any other known object in our universe," astronomer Ben Oppenheimer, chair of the astrophysics department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said in a statement. "All four planets have different spectra, and all four are peculiar. The theorists have a lot of work to do now."

Today, methane sloshes around in pools on the surface of Titan, but the hydrocarbon may eventually vanish from Saturn's giant moon, according to a new study.

Images and data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show that the compound doesn't seem to be getting replenished fast enough on Titan's surface to keep the methane cycle sustainable, scientists say.

Besides Earth, Titan is the only known place in our solar system to have stable liquids on its surface. The huge moon's clouds, lakes and rain are made up of hydrocarbons, or molecules composed of hydrogen and carbon, such as methane and ethane.

Sungrazing Comet ISON, expected to become a bright naked-eye object later this year, might dust the Earth with meteoroids in early 2014. Researchers discuss the possibilities in this week's ScienceCast.

Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov made spaceflight history high above Earth on Friday (April 19) when, at age 59, he became the oldest person ever to venture outside a spacecraft during a spacewalk that was only marred by the last-minute loss of an experiment.

Vinogradov, a veteran cosmonaut, took his seventh cosmic excursion in 16 years during Friday's spacewalk. He donned a bulky spacesuit and left the confines of the International Space Station just after 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) to upgrade the orbiting lab with new experiments.

Vinogradov paired up with 41-year-old fellow cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, a first-time spacewalker but second-generation cosmonaut. Romanenko's father, former cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, logged more than 10 spacewalking hours in his career.

SPACE.com, the premier destination for innovation, technology, entertainment, astronomy and space news, announced yesterday (April 17) that it has been selected as an Official Honoree in the Science category of the 17th Annual Webby Awards.

This marks SPACE.com's second Webby Awards distinction, following their 2010 Official Honoree selection in the 14th Annual Webby Awards.

SPACE.com was one of only 11 entries afforded Official Honoree status in the Science category, sharing the honor with websites from some of the most influential technology and science organizations in the world, including NASA (Eyes on Earth by NASA) and MIT (MIT Technology Review).

And that's it for last week's news. Time to start compiling this week's.